Brer Foxbank & the TARPbaby

It's a good sign that banks are apparently wanting to rid themselves of the TARPbaby. Maybe there is hope for free enterprise in this country yet.  Mr. Geithner seems to be enacting a "bailout" of comic implications--the one in which a cartoon character attempts to plug holes and toss water from the bottom of a boat as one gushing leak after another threatens to overwhelm the vessel's seaworthiness. It makes sense in a desperate sort of way. Give him a gold medal for effort; he means well. On the other hand, maybe we'd all be better off if he'd just relax and let the ship sink. Then the small and mid-range dealers might just pick up the scraps from the big dealers' carnage, without becoming dependent on the pusher-man who's hawking financial crack down on the corner of Wall and Fed. When we first read that the Treasury Secretary was willing to recycle those returned TARP greenbacks from the too-big-to-fails , and toss them to the too-small-to-mess-withs (those banks who were not rabid with derivative fever) we were favorably impressed. It seemed generous.   But looking a little closer at it, like Brer Fox should have done when assessing the tarbaby, maybe it would be better to just back off from this bailout thing as soon as possible, so's we don't get stuck with sump'n that be downright inescapable. Regional and Main Street banks--how 'bout you jez keep away from the TARPbaby, so's you don't get stuck with debilitating governmental addiction, and we, the taxpaying public, don't get stuck with irretrievable government junk-shares. Banks of the United States, get out while you still can! Go out into the marketplace and do your thing like you did back in the day. Our free enterprise is depending on you to do the right thing. Carey Rowland, author of Glass half-Full